


Stopover

by Antares



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Christmas, First Time, M/M, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-29
Updated: 2011-12-29
Packaged: 2017-10-28 10:13:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/306802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Antares/pseuds/Antares
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While on their way to Jack’s cabin Jack and Daniel are forced to have a stopover.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stopover

**Author's Note:**

> Beta: Many, many thanks, Shazz, for all your help!

Jack switched off the motor and the windshield wipers stopped. I took only a few seconds for a thick layer of snow to accumulate.

“Are we already there?” a sleepy voice mumbled. His passenger, who obviously had been awoken due to the missing engine noise, yawned, adjusted his seatbelt and sat up more upright than before.

“No, Daniel. But I think we’ll stop here for today.”

“Where exactly is ‘here’?” Daniel yawned again and tried to peek through the side window. The whirling snow outside permitted only a blurred sight of the houses.

“Black Water Falls. You know, the small town halfway between the airport and my cabin?”

“The village we always wanted to visit but never really managed to because there never was time?” Daniel asked.

“That’s it.”

“And so you jumped at the opportunity?”

“Yep.”

“But you know that Sam and Teal’c are waiting for us at your cabin?”

“So they have to wait a day longer.” Jack raised his eyebrows in a ‘so what?’gesture. After all, it hadn’t been his glorious idea to spend Christmas together in his cabin in Minnesota and freeze his ass off. What was wrong with Colorado Springs and all the amenities it offered? But his team had sneakily ambushed him in July when he was totally unsuspicious and made him promise to go there. Much to his chagrin, he hadn’t been able to weasel out of this obligation.

“Okay.” Daniel tried for sounding calm. “Why did we stop halfway between?”

“You looked out of the window recently?” Pure sarcasm was tinting Jack’s voice.

“Yes, I did. And yes, it’s snowing. But it has been doing that since we left the airport in Duluth. Nothing new there.” Daniel took a deep breath and rubbed the knuckles of his right hand over his forehead. The pleasant warmth in the car couldn’t cover up the iciness between them. For almost the entire drive one of them had said too much or not enough. And the actual reason why he had wanted to talk to Jack in private hadn’t been mentioned as of yet; not one word. So dozing off had seemed like a good idea after a while.

“While you were floating around in dreamland, the snowing increased and now it’s a full-blown blizzard with black ice and snow banks – the whole enchilada. It took us nearly three hours for the last eighty miles.”

“What time…?” Daniel pulled up his sleeve and glanced at his watch. “Oh, it’s nearly five o’clock. We’ll never reach the cabin while there is still light … And that’s why we are stopping here.... I got it.” Daniel finished the sentence after a few mental leaps. “We should look for a room then.”

 

Three days before Christmas, it wasn’t easy to find one. After several phone calls, the helpful lady at the tourist information center found an overpriced room in an antique bed & breakfast on the outskirts of the village where they were welcomed to stay for the night.

Mrs Dell’s Victorian Inn lived up to its name. Dark red flowery wallpaper, thick and dusty carpets, heavily framed ‘Old Masters’ on the walls and red, green, and gold Christmas garlands that were twining around the stair-rails. Every niche was occupied by a porcelain angel or a cute reindeer with button eyes.

But the room was nice and warm, and the mattress in the bed didn’t date from the turn of the century which Daniel pointed out happily after he had flopped down on it.

Jack called Carter to let her know about the change in plans. She assured him that she and Teal’c hadn’t had any difficulties getting to the cabin the day before, but that right now they were getting snowed in.

“If our inhouse archaeologist hadn’t insisted on finishing this ‘extremely’ important translation for SG-6 which is only needed at the beginning of next year, we’d also have been there by now, sitting in front of a blazing fire,” Jack – who had only very reluctantly agreed to wait one day for Daniel – grumbled.

 _“Yes, sir. And if the blizzard had started tomorrow you also would have also been in time.”_

Surprised, Jack held the receiver a few inches from his ear. “Carter?”

 _“Sir?” There was laughter in Sam’s voice._

“Nothing. It’s okay. See you tomorrow.” Jack put the receiver down with a frown. Had he just assisted to the beginnings of a mutiny in the infantry? As if it had been his idea to fly and drive up there on two different days. That was all Daniel’s fault… like almost always.

“Everything fine with Sam and Teal’c?” Daniel asked. He was coming from the bathroom where he had washed his face with cold water to chase away the last remains of his sleepiness.

“Everything fine,” Jack confirmed.

“Good. Shall we find out what culinary surprises Black Water Falls offers?” Daniel asked and started pulling on a black turtleneck sweater.

“I’m not moving the car another foot today.” Jack shook his head vigorously.

“No need for that. We walk.” Daniel rummaged through his duffel bag, searching for the mittens he was sure he had packed.

“Walking? In that snowstorm?”

“Come on. Where’s your spirit of adventure?” Daniel held up a pair of ski gloves triumphantly.

“Gone with the wind?” Jack indicated the direction of the window with his thumb. Outside it was howling and the wind made the shutters rattle.

Daniel grinned at Jack. That was the first light-hearted exchange of words without any hidden mean spirited barbs they had had during the last weeks. And because that felt so good he declared magnanimously, “Okay. Fine. Then we’ll brave Mrs. Dell’s cooking skills.”

Jack thought about it, and only two seconds later he declared, “You know, after further consideration, we could do with a bit of exercise before dinner.”

Fifteen minutes later they were struggling through the biting wind and the whirling snow until they finally reached the village center. With this weather the streets were nearly deserted and they quickly decided on the “Waterfalls Steakhouse” where warm light was spilling out on the street.

It was a perfect decision. The beer was on tap, the steaks rare and nearly as big as their plates, accompanied by crispy golden potato wedges. Jack’s mood improved considerably while eating. Jack and Daniel only talked about innocuous things, like the Christmas presents they’d gotten for Sam and Teal’c, or Jack’s plans for ice-fishing.

The evening was pleasant and extraordinarily peaceful. Daniel’s heart sank when he thought that this was going to be an exception, before they had sorted out what stood between them since the mission to Katarenga Minor. He was torn between if he should make use of the relaxed mood for a clarifying discussion, hoping that it was more successful than his failed attempts during the drive, or if he should just cherish the treacherous sentiment that everything was okay again and bask in it for a few hours more.

 

When they arrived back at the hotel, Daniel hadn’t made up his mind yet. He unwrapped himself from his anorak and wiped his glasses with a tail of his t-shirt when they got fogged repeatedly because of the warmth. It was Jack who decided it.

“You can have the bed, I’ll take the sofa,” Jack announced, grabbed his toiletry kit and tried to disappear into the bathroom.

Daniel quickly barred his way. “The bed is big enough for the two of us. There’s no reason you should squeeze yourself on the small sofa,” he insisted. The king size bed offered enough space so they wouldn’t come into contact during the night. When Jack offered to sleep on the tiny couch something was very wrong.

“There isn’t?” Jack’s cutting tone revealed that Jack, the mean jerk from the past weeks, was back.

“No.” Daniel straightened. “We’ll clear up our differences here and now.”

“Have fun with it, Daniel.”

Jack tried to squeeze past Daniel, but Daniel grabbed his arm. “Jack, we can’t continue like this.”

“You should have thought about that earlier. And now, let me go.”

Daniel strengthened his grip. “*I* should have thought about that earlier? I think your memory is at fault here. You agreed to ’share the Holy Oil’ after the Sacerdoti had proposed it to you.”

“Because you advised me to do so!” Jack let the toiletry kit drop to the bed and crossed his arms in front of him. He didn’t know if Daniel had known from the beginning on what this whole oil-sharing-nonsense meant; perhaps he had only seized the opportunity when he found out which way the ritual took.

Daniel tried to be calm and patient even if he was in turmoil. “Because it was the only logical decision. After all we got…”

“Screw that! I’m not interested in what we got,” Jack spat at him.

Daniel gulped. “We now know the location of one of the biggest ship-yards where the Goa’uld build their Al’Kesh.” Why didn’t Jack understand that it was worth this little sacrifice?

Jack let hear a bitter laugh. “That’s not what this is all about.”

“Then explain to me what this is all about.” Daniel raised his hands in a helpless gesture.

Jack went to the window and pushed the Christmas decorations to one side. He leaned heavily on the widow sill. For a moment he stared out into the night where nothing but swirling snowflakes could be seen. Perhaps Daniel was right, they couldn’t continue like this.

The tension wasn’t only palpable between the two of them, the whole team was affected.

Carter and Teal’c had noticed the distance that had formed between their commander and the archaeologist but decided to distance themselves from the situation rather than running the risk of getting chewed out by saying the wrong thing. The connection between them was crumbling and it was difficult to work together like that. The trust between them was disturbed, and the longer this went on the worse it got. Jack wasn’t optimistic enough to believe that this was one of the situations that resolved itself if you were only patient enough. They had to come to some sort of clarification.

“It’s about how you took advantage of the situation.” There, now he had said it out loud. Best to continue right now as long as Daniel still stared at him with an open mouth and was for once speechless. “I always thought that there was ... some sort of friendship between us and then you let me walk right into a trap. Perhaps I have fobbed you off one time too often on the missions before, put military interests above archaeological ones, but, hey, we are with the good ol’ Air Force after all and not working for the sand box diggers from some scientific institute or other.”

With the belittling of his work Daniel’s forced calmness was passé. After he had regained his speech he asked, “What do you want to implicate by saying I let you walk right into a trap? Dammit, Jack, it isn’t my fault when you body reacts to my touch.”

“But it was your intention to make me react like that!” Rage and shame bubbled up in Jack when he was thinking of that day.

“What?” Daniel stared at Jack incredulously.

“Don’t try that innocent clueless geek thing on me. You wanted to put one over on me, and this ritual seemed to be the perfect opportunity to get back at me. Well, you succeeded; congratulations.”

Jack remembered that day with complete clarity. ‘Sharing the oil’ had sounded so harmless, and he had agreed to it after Daniel had recommended it. How could he have known that the oil had to be shared over the naked body of the team leader of all things? And that Daniel would be chosen to do the sharing?

His long, slender fingers had rubbed the warm, spiced oil everywhere into Jack’s skin. Every touch had fuelled the colonel’s desire, awoken longings that had been much too long repressed. For a timeless moment Daniel’s fingers on his skin had blended out reality and left Jack with only the feeling of the tender touches which had been burned into his skin and mind…

“Put one over on you? Jack ... what exactly are you reproaching me about?” Daniel felt as if his brain had been frozen in the cold outside and wasn’t back online at with full speed. “We both took part in this ritual voluntarily. There was no pressure. And yes, you reacted to this whole ‘sharing the oil on your body’ story with visible arousal, which made our hosts grin and whisper secretly. But at the same time they were very pleased that there was such a strong bond between us. As a sign of their satisfaction they gave us not only the address for the Goaul’d ship-yards but also a dozen staff-weapons. I’d call that a successful mission.”

“Of course! It wasn’t you who was naked in front of the whole team. It isn’t you who has to live now with the knowledge that everyone knows that a bit of warm oil and a pair of caressing hands is enough to turn on the leader of SG-1.” The whole shitty situation was again vividly before Jack’s eyes.

“And you really believe I used my ‘magical hands’,” Daniel was waving his hands in front of Jack’s face, “to arouse you because during our missions – notabene missions financed by the military – you set military interests over archaeological ones? Excuse me, Jack, but doesn’t that sound even in your own ears a tad farfetched?” Daniel watched his friend with raised eyebrows. It only happened rarely but at the moment he was unable to follow Jack’s train of thought.

“No, it doesn’t,” Jack answered stubbornly. Because if that wasn’t the case, if he hadn’t been prey to Daniel’s treacherous art of seduction, it meant by implication that Jack had liked it. Could like it again. And that was much more difficult to accept than an absurd conspiracy theory.

Until now he had always managed to change the meaning of a burgeoning interest in another man. When he felt interest for a football player he had forced himself to only see his athletic success. When it happened with Tom, the fighter pilot, he had concentrated solely on his aeronautical skills. And until recently he had believed that this mechanism of denial also worked with Daniel. To tell the truth, who didn’t admire Daniel’s courage and determination? Who wasn’t impressed with his knowledge and his compassion – as misguided as it sometimes was?

Daniel joined Jack at the window. He took a deep breath and said, “I’m really sorry if you have been assuming for the last weeks that it … was some sort of revenge. I’d never do something like that.” And if he expected Jack to believe him he had to put his cards on the table. He took a deep breath. “I’m partly to blame for what happened, but in a totally different way than you assume.”

With a wave of his hand he stopped Jack’s interruption and continued determinedly, “I didn’t react in a professional way on Katarenga. I didn’t apply the oil as quickly and effectively as possible, but I … yes, you’re right, I took advantage of the situation for my satisfaction. I savoured every single moment. I felt as if the Sacerdoti had prematurely already given me my best Christmas present.” Daniel whispered the last words, “I finally had an excuse to touch you... everywhere.”

Jack stared at Daniel’s hands that were directly beside his own on the window sill. Night after night he had conjured up the scene on Katarenga when he was alone in his bed. He had started full of rage at Daniel, but each and every time he had reached his climax when he remembered how Daniel had stood before him, gliding his hands over his chest with reverence and tenderness; how his friend had knelt behind him, caressing the insides of his thighs until he had felt his cock hardening.

If Daniel had *wanted* to touch him it made sense why he had taken his time to fulfil the ritual. It made sense why it had felt so good to him. Jack felt his anger evaporate. Deep down he had always known that his explanation for the events on Katarenga had been false and a coping mechanism for a truth he didn’t want to see.

For heaven’s sake, if Daniel was man enough to admit that he had liked it, why couldn’t he do the same? Jack put his hand over Daniel’s, cradled the cold fingers in his own and asked half-hopefully, half-resigned, “Perhaps there was something in the oil?”

“No.”

“You’re sure?”

“Absolutely. You know that Janet analyzed it.”

“But…”

Daniel carefully watched Jack’s reaction when he said his next words, “We can do a comparative test. I bet you’ve got some sort of lotion in your luggage? I’ll rub it in on your body and we’ll see if we can repeat the result.” He opted for a light tone so it would be easier for Jack to say ‘no’ if he had misjudged Jack’s interest.

“Daniel!” Just to imagine it was enough to rekindle Jack’s deep yearning. Daniel offered exactly what he had already allowed himself to fantasize about, promised him more than mere dreams. But if he gave in there was no going back. If he allowed Daniel to touch him intimately it wasn’t because they had a mission to accomplish. There was no common good to be considered nor did the existence of mankind depend on it. It would simply be Daniel and him and their … pleasure.

And even if his exclamation had sounded like a protest, his hand, which was lying over Daniel’s, made another interpretation more probable. His fingers had clenched around Daniel’s, but when he very deliberately relaxed them his thumb was still caressing the palm of his friend’s hand.

Encouraged by Jack’s caress, Daniel asked, “Or don’t you dare?” Daniel knew that to challenge Jack was very often the best way to get what you wanted.

“Hey! Don’t even think about baiting me! You’ll have to do better.” Daniel wouldn’t think that he’d fall for this trick, would he?

Daniel grinned. “Was worth the try. But we could always go for … a re-match. You apply the lotion to my skin... if you prefer that.”

Did he prefer that? Both fantasies were tantalizing. And if he thought about gliding his hands over Daniel’s delectable body …

Jack was sure that Daniel wouldn’t make fun of something important like this. If he offered it, he meant it. And there was no need for his conscience to enumerate one last time all the reasons that spoke against it. For the last five weeks he’d done it again and again, and he was able to rattle off the halfdozen, including all subsections from a) to e). Only the main reason – that Daniel wasn’t interested in him – wasn’t valid any longer. With this obstacle gone, were the others important enough not to accept Daniel’s offer?

Not knowing how to interpret Jack’s silence, Daniel was afraid he had overwhelmed him with his proposal. “Jack we don’t have to do anything. We take this as one of our usual bickering arguments – and that’s it. But please, let’s just return to the status quo before Katarenga, okay?” The last thing he wanted to do was jeopardize the fragile peace between them. He hoped that Jack’s thoughts were on the right track now, and he would give his friend all the time he needed.

Daniel was starting to turn away, when Jack grabbed his elbow. “I have … some fancy sort of body-lotion for men in my suitcase. Carter gave it to me last Christmas. I thought it was the right thing to bring it along.” A bit unsure, he glanced at Daniel and shrugged.

“Good.” Daniel gave his friend an enthusiastic nod. Oh God, Jack has said ‘yes’ in his own, strange way! Finally! Daniel tried hard not to break out in a celebratory dance. “Wonderful.” If he said more now he would start bubbling out hopelessly kitschy phrases and therefore Daniel forced himself to answer in one word sentences.

But he could show Jack how he felt about him. Very carefully he posed his hands on Jack’s shoulders and let them slowly glide upwards. With one hand he cradled Jack’s cheek, like Jack had done a long time ago on Klorel’s ship, when they had been afraid that it meant good-bye forever. Now it was – hopefully – a beginning. He leaned forward a bit, but before he could brush his lips against Jack’s, Jack held him back.

“Teal’c and Carter went on purpose already yesterday, didn’t they?”

“Yes.” Daniel nodded. “It was Teal’cs idea to take the translation as a pretense so we could spend some time together in the car without being disturbed. He … we, all hoped you and I could come to terms with whatever was bothering us. Well, it didn’t work out like planned.” Daniel shrugged and his fingers caressed the short hair in Jack’s neck. During the last years they had turned so grey. Once again Daniel realized that they didn’t have all the time in the world.

“Looks like it worked even better than planned, thanks to the blizzard.” Jack made up his mind, put his hands on Daniel’s waist and pulled him closer.

“That wasn’t my doing”, Daniel stated honestly.

Jack grinned. “If I were you I’d take credit for it.”

“The stopover was your idea.” He breathed a kiss on Jack’s lips and with this kiss he made clear that from now on they were on a new path, taking a new direction. There was nothing “brotherly” in the way he let his tongue linger over Jack’s bottom lip.

“Hey, that’s right.” With an impish wink Jack added, “We’ll make it the best stopover we ever had.”

“Ya, sure, youbetcha,” Daniel confirmed.

Jack smiled and his index finger was nonchalantly gliding over Daniel’s cheek. Today he would savour the “sharing-the-oil … uh … lotion” ceremony. Without a public that was following each of his reactions closely. Now it was finally only Daniel, him and a nice big comfortable bed.

He leaned forward and their mouths touched tenderly and a bit hesitantly. But then Daniel opened his lips for him and a sudden burst of longing sizzled through Jack’s body. He was yearning to be touched, to feel Daniel, to learn about his skin and the things he liked. Oh yes. With a groan Jack let himself fall into the kiss.

 

\-------THE END----

© Antares, December 2011


End file.
